15th HCL International Bridge Championship to Commence on September 12 2017

by Shrutee K/DNS

Mumbai: HCL, a leading global conglomerate, announced that the 15th HCL International Bridge Championship will commence on September 12, 2017 at the JW Marriott Hotel, Aerocity New Delhi. This year, the Championship will witness participation from over 700 players (132 teams), including 20 international teams from countries like Israel, Sweden, Denmark, Egypt, Russia and Poland among others. The total prize money offered to the winners at this six-day event amounts to Rs. 1.8 Crore (USD 270,000), making it the highest prize purse for any bridge tournament globally.

The annual Bridge Championship is being organised under the auspices of Bridge Federation of India. Noted players of international repute participating at the HCL International Bridge Championship include, Giorgio Duboin from Italy (World Ranked No. 20), and Norberto Bocchi from Italy (World Ranked No. 30), top female bridge duo, Hila Levi and Adi Asulin from Isreal among others.
The event consists of “Team of Four Gold”, “Team of Four Silver”, “Open Pairs”, “Swiss Pairs” and “IMP Pairs”. The Naresh Tandan Trophy will be given to the winners of Team of Four Gold event. The Mohini Tandan Trophy will be awarded to the winners of Team of Four Silver event and the Neena Bonarji Trophy will be received by the winners of the ‘Open Pairs’ event.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Kiran Nadar, Director, HCL Corporation and an internationally renowned Bridge player and Captain of Team Formidables said, “Contrary to popular belief, Bridge has very little to do with luck and more to do with strategy and communication. All over the world, leaders in the field of business, politics or sports are known to play and love this game. The game, however, is not as popular in India as in other countries like USA or UK. In order to revive the interest in this game, HCL has been supporting it since 2003. Every year, HCL has upped the level of the championship and increased the prize purse, encouraging more national and international participation. We hope that our sustained efforts will go a long way in promoting the game in India.”

Talking about HCL’s support for Bridge, Mr. Sundar Mahalingam, Chief Strategy Officer HCL Corporation said, “Sports, whether played outdoors or indoors, as part of a team, with a partner or even alone, allows players to hone their skills of anticipation, collaboration and strategy. Sports is the backbone of many life lessons and HCL, as part of its brand building initiatives, supports a variety of sports including Bridge. As a game of strategy, Bridge is a natural fit for HCL. With over 700 participants and some of the top international players participating, we expect the Championship to be an action-packed six-day event.”

The 2016, HCL International Bridge Championship witnessed participation from over 600 players from 120 teams, including 10 international teams from US, Poland, Italy, Bulgaria, Russia and Jordan.

Format of the Tournament is as follows:

Team of Four Gold event is open to all. The qualifying round consists of Swiss League of 10 Rounds of 10 Boards each on first two days. The top 16 teams after Swiss League will advance to the knock-out Pre-Quarter Final stage. The winners of the Pre - Quarter Final matches will play the Quarter Finals and winner of the Quarter Finals will play the Semi-Finals. All the knock-out matches will be played over 4 sessions of 14 Boards each. The losing semi-finalists will play-off for 3rd /4th position over 3 sessions of 14 Boards each and the Final match will be played on 17th September over 4 sessions of 14 boards each.

Team of Four Silver event is open to Indian Bridge players (participation of Foreign teams in this event is subject to clearance by Technical Committee). There can be no more than two National Masters (according to BFI master point scheme, points updated up to 31st August 2017) ranked players in a team and they should not play together. The qualifying round consists of Swiss League of 10 Rounds of 10 Boards each on first two days. The top 16 teams after Swiss League will advance to the knock-out Pre- Quarter Final stage. The winners of the Pre- Quarter Final matches will play the Quarter Finals and winner of the same will play the Semi-Finals. All the knock-out matches will be played over 4 sessions of 14 Boards each. The losing semi-finalists will play-off for 3rd /4th position over 3 sessions of 14 Boards each and the Final match will be played on 17th September over 4 sessions of 14 boards each.

Open Pairs event is a match point pair’s event, which will start on third day (14th Sep) of the tournament and will be played over 4 days. There will be 3 elimination rounds each consisting of 3 sessions of 18 Boards each. Top 26 pairs along with 2 sponsored pairs will qualify for the final. The Open Pairs Final will be played over two sessions with Barometer Howell movement (28 Pairs, 54 Boards).

Swiss Pairs event is a one-day event for non-qualifiers of Open Pairs event. Swiss Pairs event will be played over 8 Rounds of 6 Boards each on 15th September 2017.

IMP Pairs event is a two-day event. The elimination round consists of 3 sessions of 18 Boards each on 5th day (16th September). IMP pairs final will be played over 2 sessions of 24 Boards each on the 6th day (17th September).

IMP Pairs Strata-II event is a one-day event for non-qualifiers of Pairs events. It will be played over two sessions of 22 Boards each on the last day (17th September).

The schedule and other details related to the 15th HCL International Bridge Championship are available at http://www.hcl-bridge.com. Players can apply till 2000 hrs on 11th September 2017.


About HCL
Founded in 1976 as one of India's original IT garage start-ups, HCL is a pioneer of modern computing with many firsts to its credit, including the introduction of the 8-bit microprocessor-based computer in 1978 well before its global peers. Today, the HCL enterprise has a presence across varied sectors that include technology, healthcare and talent management solutions and comprises four companies - HCL Infosystems, HCL Technologies, HCL Healthcare and HCL TalentCare. The enterprise generates annual revenues of over US $7.5 billion with more than 120,000 employees from 140 nationalities operating across 32 countries, including over 500 points of presence in India. For further information, visit www.hcl.com.

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